Life on the Venture
by LittleLonnie
Summary: Little story about life on The Venture on the way to Skull Island! Jimmy is main character!
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **Life on the Venture  
**Author: **LoNnI  
**Rating: **T  
**Spoilers: **If you haven't seen the movie by now…  
**Summary: **Little story about life on The Venture on the way to Skull Island! Jimmy is main character!  
**Note: **I don't really know what would make people offended, but IF anyone does get offended by something then I am very sorry. That is not what I want! And I know fine that Hayes isn't really Jimmys' father, so that's why I've written it like "father" in the end ;D I am not from an English speaking country either, so I have gotten this story Beta read as well as possiblebefore posted!

There is two chapters! _(I planned to have this one as one shot, just like my first story Breath Of Life, but again as then it got longer thenexpected! Lol)_

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**Part 1/2 **

Jimmy stood by the railing of the ship that had been his home for four years. His blue eyes watched the city of New York as they headed for open ocean. There were seven extra people on this journey. A film crew, led by the director, Carl Denham. Following him were his assistant Preston, cameraman Herb, soundman Mike, kidnapped screenplay-writer and friend of Carl, Jack Driscoll, actor Bruce Baxter and Vaudeville star Ann Darrow. Jimmy had seen Carl and Preston before and the captain of the ship, Englehorn, wasn't too fond of Denham. So far, Jimmy had only spoken to one member of the film crew, Preston.

"Jim, take this to our writer down in the cargo hold" the cook, Lumpy, stood in the galley, holding a plate with some not too delicious looking food on it. Jimmy grinned. He bet that the famed writer would be new to Lumpy's cooking, which could be fun. The young lad took the plate and walked through the small corridors before he opened a door which led him down a staircase and to the cargo hold. Now Jimmy had to find out which of the many cages the writer occupied. He found it at first try. "Compliments of the chef" the kid said, as he tugged his navy blue sailors' hat down over his dark blonde hair and entered one of the biggest cages where the writer had stopped typing on his machine. He looked at Jimmy. "Lamb brains in walnut sauce" he grinned, amused as Jack looked away, almost vomiting.

"Jimmy!" the tall, black first mate, Hayes, came into the hold as Jimmy came out of the cage. Jack's eyes rested on the plate with the disgusting looking food when the sound of his name made him look up. He saw Hayes' hard hold on Jimmy's wrist and soon his own pen rolled onto the floor. The kid ran off and Hayes picked up the pen and handed it over to Jack. "He means no harm" the well dressed crew member told him and Jack could only nod. Wondering what that pen was worth stealing for.

Ann sat on deck on the back of the boat enjoying the sunshine and the comfortable wind. When she turned her head she could see a young kid sitting on a bench some meters away reading a book. Now and then he would peek over the book at Ann and she had to grin. "Hello to you too" she smiled to the sailor and came over to sit beside him. "What's your name?" she asked as she looked at the kid. He was dressed in different shades of blue. Navy blue pants that matched the sailors' cap and a light blue t-shirt. His eyes were blue and very big and alltogether he was an handsome young boy. "Jimmy" he said simply with a half smile and extended his hand. Ann accepted it and grinned while pushing some blond locks from her face. "My name is Ann Darrow" she answered being as polite as the young man.

"You can't be very old. You're the youngest I've seen onboard so far" Jimmy blushed a little and nodded. "Sixteen" Ann nodded thoughtfully at the answer. "Are your parents a part of the crew too?" Ann felt she shouldn't have asked that when an uneasy look appeared on Jimmy's face. "This crew is my family" Jimmy smiled, much to Ann's relief. She understood that the darkness in Jimmy's kind eyes was there for a reason. "What about you? How did you end up here?" Ann smiled at the question and answered joyfully. They sat talking for a while, unaware that Hayes was standing on the deck above them, smiling, satisfied with the fact that Jimmy could actually meet new people in a decent way too.

Later that night just as people were starting to find their way to their cabins, Hayes could be found by the helm so captain Englehorn could get some hours of rest. Jack stepped out into the cool night to draw in some fresh air. He had locked himself up in the cage for hours. He sat down on a bench just as Jimmy came through a door beside him. "Mr. Denham?" he stopped when he saw Jack and turned to leave again. "Jimmy?" the writer's voice made the kid stop. "I was just looking for the director, Mr. Driscoll" Jimmy answered quickly and Jack just smiled and shook his head. "I pictured that, but I wanted to ask you something" The kid closed the door and looked down shamefully. The ocean seemed black in the moonlight and everything was quiet except for the sound of splashing water and the engine of the ship. "About the pen I tried to take?" Jimmy saw him nod, but also smile. "It's not a big deal. It's just a pen. I just wondered why? You could have just asked you know" Jimmy was taken aback at how nice this guy actually was. "I don't really have any reason. I like to write, I'm sorry Mr. Driscoll" Jimmy was really sorry about what he had done and he wanted to make sure the writer knew that. "Well it's okay" Jack clapped the kid on the shoulder as he realized the kid wasn't any bad boy at all.

The days went by really slowly and people had started to get bored and restless. Carl had probably filmed ever inch of the ship and every person on it. He was now reading the script for the movie for the second time that day. Mike and Preston sat staring at the wall with half open eyes, while Jack and Ann were walking around in circles on the ship. Talking and laughing, looking anything but bored. Englehorn and Hayes stood at the bridge, watching the endless blue horizon with a resigned look on their faces. They had been out here for weeks now and Hayes didn't even want to remember Jimmy's ways to cure boredom.

Ironically at the same time in the corridors, Jimmy was playing with a pen between his fingers, the one he got from Jack. He was looking for one special cabin. He opened a door. Bruce Baxter's cabin. He was nowhere to be seen so Jimmy entered it with a grin on his face. After drawing some moustaches and beards on the posters Baxter had of himself, Jimmy walked down the corridor when the actor himself came strolling his way with his head held high. He noticed the look Baxter gave him and hurried away while swallowing his giggle.

Jimmy was standing just around the corner when Baxter came storming out of his room and towards him. "You!" he pointed at Jimmy and swore when the kid ran past Choy as the small man came towards them, singing, with a big box in his arms. Jimmy passed him easily without even coming near the little man. Choy looked up as Baxter came after Jimmy and let go of the box right before he could pass. "Oh stupid box!" Choy smiled ever so happy and tried to pull it up again, taking good time as Baxter tried to jump past. "For heavens sake little man! Move it!" Baxter pushed past and was back on track looking for Jimmy. "By the way! The deck has been cleaned…" Choy raised his voice, but just shook his head. "Bet you didn't hear that…".

The boy stumbled out a door, receiving weird glances from passing sailors. He heard a bark behind him and started running towards the astern. "Watch out! The deck is slippery!" Jack had been sitting on the deck when the two came running towards the newly washed astern. It was too late. Jimmy slipped and landed on his back, but got a grip on the railing. Baxter wasn't that lucky. He landed on his bum and slid across the last bit of the deck and right into the sea. Some crewmembers laughed, but ran to the actor's rescue. The ship stopped pretty quickly and they threw out a rescue ring. Jimmy pulled himself up and ran back inside just as Hayes came to the scene. "Taking a bath, Mr. Baxter?" Hayes joked as the soaked actor spit seawater onto the deck. Baxter sent the giggling sailors a warning look. "You got no control over that kid?" Baxter knew the first mate was some kind of father for the kid and he would definitely not be happy with Jimmy now. The grin on Hayes' face slowly disappeared when he realized that all of this had happened because of one certain uncontrollable kid. "Excuse me" Hayes excused himself and turned to find Jimmy. "Where did he go?" he looked at Jack, who just lifted his shoulder as saying he didn't know.

As Hayes had guessed, the kid had found his way down to the cargo hold. "Jimmy!" Jack was following a very angry Hayes. The kid's eyes were full of regret and he backed away when Hayes came towards him. He grabbed the boy's upper arm and looked right into his eyes with angry, brown eyes. "You got any idea how seriously this could have ended?" Hayes held Jimmy's arm so hard that the kid winced in pain. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean for him to fall off the ship!" Jimmy defended himself. "Do you ever think of the consequences of your actions? You got to think more, Jimmy! I can't watch your back like a hawk all day. I need you to manage to keep yourself together" Hayes let go of the kid and turned his back to leave. He surely loved the kid like he was his own son, but he was not an easy kid to handle. Hayes turned to Jimmy one last time. "You make it hard for me to give you my complete trust, Jimmy" he saw how sad the kid looked at this, but it was the truth. He then left Jimmy alone with Jack.

Jimmy looked sadly at Jack. "You're one strange kid" the writer smiled and sat down inside his cage. He took it all much more easily. Jack actually thought it was a bit fun to see a soaked Baxter. "Just out of curiosity, what did you do?" the writer saw the kid dry a smile off his face with a hand. "I may have used that pen you gave me" Jimmy put on an innocent face and Jack could kind of see where this was going. "You didn't draw on his posters, did you?" Jack had to grin now. Drawing on Baxter's posters is like begging for death, but maybe that was something Jimmy didn't fear. Jimmy stood up to leave, but paused and looked at Jack. The older man could see that Jimmy had something on his heart. "Did they laugh?" he asked. "Who?" Jack asked. "The crew" Jimmy drew a naughty grin on his face. "Haha yes indeed" Jack nodded, a little amused by the kid. "Then it may have been worth it" Jimmy almost whispered as he left the cargo hold. Jack sat staring into thin air. He really didn't know what to think of him. He really was an interesting kid, sometimes too much for Jack's curious mind.

"Mr. Hayes?" Jimmy knocked once on the door at the bridge were he knew the first mate would be with the captain. "We are so used to catch you in doing something unpleasant that we don't even need to say you're getting a punishment. You got to straighten up, Jimmy" Englehorn said with a stern voice. "Getting a man like Mr. Baxter on our necks is no good" Hayes continued. All the time Jimmy kept his gaze at the floor. "You're going to help Lumpy out in the kitchen" Hayes said as he led Jimmy out onto the deck and to the galley. "What? But Lumpy hates me" the kid complained. "Lumpy pretends to hate everyone, Jimmy. You know that. Now get in" Hayes gave Jimmy a little nudge through the door. "Well hey there Jim. Let's crack some nuts!" the cook winked with a cigarette in his mouth.


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's the second and last part of my story! I hope you like it and let me know it please! I love comments! Hehe ;D****

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**Part 2/2 **

"Don't you ever run out of walnuts?" Jimmy asked, as he took a handful of them from a bucket and looked at Lumpy. "Nope". The answer was simple. The cook had placed the kid at the table with a nutcracker. "Now go on" Lumpy nodded towards Jimmy to get him to start. He took a nut and cracked it. One nut, two nuts, three nuts... The fourth one was extremely hard and Jimmy had to use all of his strength to crack it. Lumpy's black bird flopped it's wings violently as he cracked the nut and pieces flew everywhere. One piece flew right onto Lumpy's forehead and the cook sent the laughing kid a warning look. Jimmy stopped laughing and continued cracking the nuts. Once again he had to use all of his strength on another hard one. And once again the shell 'exploded' and pieces flew into every wall in the galley. One even slashed through Lumpy's cigarette, ripping it to pieces. "For the mother of god, kid!" Lumpy found himself a new cigarette before he walked over to Jimmy and took the walnuts from him. "Why don't you just go outside to the stern. There's a huge box of vegetables there you can scrub mould off" Lumpy got the still giggling kid up and led him out to the stern. "You're a killer-machine with a nutcracker" Lumpy nudged Jimmy's shoulder.

Jimmy looked over his shoulder at Lumpy when he heard music coming from the stern. They walked along the deck with the sun setting to their right, colouring the sky with different shades of red and yellow. When they finally got to the stern they could see some sailors off duty singing, laughing, drinking and doing some comic dancing. Lumpy laid a hand on Jimmy's shoulder as he walked past him and over to his friend Choy who stood clapping and smiling like a little kid.

Jimmy suddenly felt someone tug on his hand and saw Ann's face just as she turned away and dragged him with her into a circle of sailors. Ann grabbed both his hands and they spun around to start up the dance. Both Ann and Jimmy smiled and their hearts soared as they kept dancing for several minutes. Choy started to sing and even Lumpy had a smile on his face.

Jack stood on the upper deck and watched his new friends enjoying themselves. "They're both pretty good." Hayes said as he came to stand beside Jack, watching the beautiful Vaudeville actress and the young feral kid dancing. "It doesn't surprise me that Ann is such a good dancer, but the kid… Where did he learn that?" Jack smiled automatically as the couple seemed to end their dance. "Do you ever wonder where he came from? Who he really is?" Jack looked up at the first mate and saw the sad look in his eyes. "Everyday. Clearly something bad has happened to him, since he refuses to tell me anything. It makes it hard for me to understand him, but it certainly doesn't make me care any less." Hayes had a tired look on his face with a just as tired smile on it. Jack nodded silently and looked down at the stern as Ann and Jimmy dragged Preston into the dance too. The young assistant didn't seem too comfortable to dance, but he was smiling and laughing like everyone else.

As night came most people had found their way to their cabins. The black ocean had grown more and more restless throughout the night. Hayes expected a storm was coming from where he was standing by the helm. He was there so Englehorn could get a few hours of sleep. Most of the film crew had gone to bed too, but Ann was still sitting in her cabin reading Jack's "Isolation" for the third time. Jack himself had gone to sleep in his cage, while Bruce sat in the galley, reading some magazine he found on the toilet. The galley was probably the only place where some people could still be found. Lumpy and Jimmy sat in the kitchen, finally scrubbing mould off the vegetables. Bruce looked up from his magazine at the cook and the little hooligan. "That's your punishment?" Bruce asked the kid. "Yes" Jimmy answered dryly. The actor shook his head and looked back down at the magazine in his hands. "If I were to punish you, I would have forced you to draw new posters of me" Bruce smiled to himself and Jimmy lifted and eyebrow. "Even the devil wouldn't be that evil." Lumpy mumbled with his cigarette still in his mouth and Jimmy could only smile at the unexpected support. "What was that?" Bruce tried to send Lumpy a 'don't-mess-with-me' look, but received one back instead. Soon the actor just mumbled something and left the galley.

A few hours later the sea had grown even wilder and by morning the storm was so close that the thick rain clouds no longer let any rays of sunlight through! Captain Englehorn was back at the helm with Hayes by his side and sailors were running around on the decks of the Venture. Ann sat in the galley with Bruce, Preston and Choy, and for once Lumpy wasn't there with them. The Venture rode wave after wave and Carl could feel his stomach twitch where he sat on a sofa gulping liquid from a glass. "Jimmy!" Hayes screamed up to the kid in the crows nest. Slowly Jimmy found his way down and entered the bridge with questionable eyes. "Jimmy, can you get Mr. Driscoll from the cargo hold? It's not safe down there right now" Hayes clapped the kid's shoulder who nodded and ran off.

"Mr. Driscoll?" Jimmy was thrown into the wall once, before he staggered through the rows of cages and different types of sharp equipment. He came to the writer's cage and saw how hard the man was trying to type something on his typewriter. "Yes Jimmy?" Jack looked at the kid like he had no problem working in the noisy cargo hold. "Mr. Hayes told me to come and get you. This isn't a good place to stay in during a storm." Even Jimmy, who had been out on the ocean for four years, now had trouble keeping his balance.

"Okay." Jack picked up his typewriter and his coat and left the cargo hold. Jimmy was about to follow when he staggered backwards as they rode another wave. His cap fell off and he stumbled after it just as he felt something stab him in his left shoulder. He cried out as he felt his T-shirt sticking to his skin. He grabbed hold of the thing in his shoulder and pulled it out. It was a piece of cage that had broken off. He could see his red blood on it and his sight became unclear as tears welled up in his eyes. He pulled himself up and forced his legs to hold his weight. He pushed a door open and walked into a deserted corridor. "Damn it!" He moaned, as almost half of his light-blue shirt had turned red. He looked up as he heard footsteps coming towards him. "Mr. Hayes!" Jimmy sighed in relief as he slid down the wall. He felt the first mate's arms catch him before everything went black.

"Jimmy!" Hayes' eyes widened when he saw Jimmy stagger along the corridor with half his shirt coated red. He ran over to him as the kid lost consciousness. Worry hit Hayes like a punch as he shook the kid and held him close. He looked around, but there was no-one there. He looked back down at the wounded kid and rubbed his pale cheek with a bloody thumb, leaving a trace of blood on the boy's cheek. "Jimmy" Hayes whispered, trying everything to wake him up, but to no use. He put his fingers to Jimmy's neck to check his pulse and breathed out a bit of tension. Finally Hayes stood up, cradling the unconscious kid in his arms.

"Lumpy! Come with me!" Hayes barked as he entered the galley where he finally found the cook. Ann's eyes grew as wide as Hayes' had. "Oh my god! What happened to him?" She looked at the unmoving boy in Hayes' arms in great concern as she noticed the blood. "I don't know. Lumpy!" Hayes barked the cook's name again which finally got the cook moving. Even Bruce noticed the almost desperate look in the first mate's eyes. The cook and Hayes left the room to find a cabin.

Lumpy opened the door to Jimmy's cabin and Hayes came in right after him, followed by Jack who had run into them on the way. The first mate laid the boy down and Lumpy immediately tried to find the source of the blood. "Did you see what happened?" Hayes turned to Jack who laid a hand on Jimmy's forehead. "No, he came and told me to get out of the cargo hold and I did. I thought he followed me." Jack felt how cold Jimmy's forehead was. Lumpy removed the shirt covering Jimmy's shoulder and saw how the blood was much darker at one place. "I need some towels or whatev' to stop the bleeding and clean the wound," the British cook ordered and some sailor ran off to get what he needed. He was back within 30 seconds. Hayes watched how well Lumpy did his wok. He often seemed careless when it came to food, but with people he always did his job perfectly.

Jimmy blinked once. Then twice, but he couldn't get rid of the fog in front of his eyes. He felt numb and tired. He just lay there for uncounted minutes, listening to the humming of the ship and voices from other parts on the boat. It wasn't before some time had passed that Jimmy realized someone was sitting beside him. Then all of a sudden pain hit him like a wave and a moan escaped his lips. "Jimmy?" It was of course Mr. Hayes' voice. He felt a hand on his uninjured shoulder. Pain flashed down Jimmy's left arm and chest. He tried to grab his shoulder to try and stop the pain, but Hayes wouldn't let him.

"Choy!" The first mate raised his voice a little when the little man appeared at the door. "Get Lumpy!" Hayes didn't look up at Choy, but he knew he had heard him and he would get his friend for him. "Mr. Hay-" Even in pain Jimmy wouldn't stop addressing Hayes with mister when talking to him. "I'm here Jimmy. Don't move it just makes the pain worse." The usually stern first mate was everything but stern right now as he sat on a chair beside the bed, stroking the kids' cheek, waiting for Lumpy.

"Lumpy at your service!" The dodgy looking cook strolled into the cabin, receiving a dangerous look from Hayes and a tiny, silly smile from Jimmy. "So how are ya today, kid?" the cook checked the kid's pulse and Jimmy raised a hand sleepily. He still couldn't see clearly, but even a blind man would have noticed that Lumpy in fact did not have a cigarette between his lips. "What happened?" Jimmy slurred at the cook. Hayes would rather be the one asking Jimmy that question. "Happened? To me?" Lumpy looked down at himself and then at the kid with wondering eyes. "Oh! My cigarettes! I forgot those!" With that the cook left the cabin, but was stopped by Hayes. "What about Jimmy?" The two men talked and Jimmy just closed his tired eyes. He didn't care to open his eyes, when Hayes came in again. "Is captain Englehorn angry?" Jimmy's voice was a little steadier now. "No not at all. But both he and myself wonder what happened." Hayes had been down in the cargo hold once, while Jimmy was still unconscious and found pieces that had broken off a cage. "I got Jack for you when I lost my balance… Something stabbed me in my shoulder" Jimmy said shortly as he opened one eye and found his vision a little clearer now. He saw Hayes nod slowly before he sent Jimmy a rare smile. "Now get some sleep" the grown man stood up and clapped Jimmy lightly on the chest before he left the room. It wasn't until then that Jimmy noticed the ship was more steady and the storm had eased.

A few days passed by while Jimmy recovered. He was back on his duties within three days. Of course making sure he didn't hurt his shoulder too much. Hayes was very insistent about of that. Slowly the kid also befriended Preston and the two of them were often seen together, talking mostly about Preston's life and movies, since Jimmy was careful to keep his past behind him, where it belonged. Ann kept charming every sailor onboard, while Carl got on Englehorn's nerves more and more. Bruce mostly stayed to himself, but even he had to join in with the others at times. Most of that time, he sat with Herb and Mike somewhere on the ship. Most people on The Venture were in a good mood these days even though boredom always lurked close. Jack liked to observe Jimmy and Hayes and the bond those two had. Two very different people, who were so important to one another. If Jack could have foreseen what was coming, he would have done anything to stop it from happening. No one knew that just a few days ahead so much would happen and so much would be lost. And a young kid would lose the only thing that kept him in this world. His 'father'!

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**Be Nice! )**

**Thanks to Jess for BETA reading as well as possible! **

**Oh! And Note again! I thought forever what word to use at the very end there about Hayes, but ended up with "father". Not just father... if that made any scenes... lol**


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